


The High School Reunion

by BlueAlmond



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alexander can be a jerk, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, Happy Ending, Humor, Idiots in Love, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Light Angst, M/M, Poor Aaron Burr, Poor Thomas Jefferson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-10
Packaged: 2019-10-07 23:37:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17375342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlueAlmond/pseuds/BlueAlmond
Summary: High school ended up ten years ago, but for some reason they’re supposed to meet up again as if anybody really wanted to, because let’s be honest, everybody wants the people from high school to believe they’re successful—preferably more successful than them. And what symbolizes success like an engagement? Not being single, that’s for sure.





	The High School Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> When I saw Lin’s tweets about his high school reunion a few months ago I couldn’t help to think ‘damn, those sure are lucky but, there aren’t many things that beat that’. Like, can you imagine one of your high school classmates, people you had to see every day for so long that you probably didn’t even like, showing up being celebrities or important while you’re there like… ‘yeah, I’m thinking about getting a cat, because I don’t have enough room for a dog and I don’t live in the best neighborhood to take him out on walks’? It can be a little harsh on the ego, you know?  
> Anyway, Alexander cannot be that bad, right? But maybe he should get his priorities straight.

High school reunions can actually be quite stressful. Sure, it can be fun to meet up with those who shared so many things with you, but when it’s been so long, one is supposed to have accomplished things.

One is supposed to have accomplished more things than the others, and right then, Alexander Hamilton didn’t think he had.

He had a nice job, but he wasn’t important, not yet. He didn’t have a doubt one day he would be, but that day hadn’t arrived yet, and it would’ve been nice if it had. Another thing that would’ve been nice to have accomplished before jumping into the nest of snakes was a partner. Thanks to Facebook he was more than aware of the many classmates that were already married, including the girl he dated for most of sophomore, junior and senior year. They were friends now, and most of the time he didn’t mind, but it was still kind of annoying that a bunch of people would see her arrive with a ring on her finger and a stunning woman by her side whereas he would show up alone.

That was, unless he didn’t.

“Don’t you think you’re being a little bit dramatic about this?” asked Nate, who was still pouring sugar into his coffee after almost a minute.

Alexander sighed. “I’m not being dramatic. You’re just saying that because you didn’t go to school with me. I’m telling you, the people I’m going to see…” he shook his head and finished his coffee in one sip, “they’re the worst. Some of them. I’m also going to see my old friends, so that’s nice.” He talked to them on the phone quite often, but it wasn’t the same. He was actually quite enthusiastic about that.

“Why don’t you focus on that? Don’t think of the people you don’t care about! Enjoy the weekend with your friends!”

Alexander stared at his coworker and friend like he was some naïve kid insisting about the accuracy of fairytales against a bitter scholar. He poured himself some more coffee. “No. I need to find a date. Preferably someone who won’t mind saying we’ve been together and happy for a while.”

“Well, don’t count me in. I believe that’s ridiculous.”

“You’re not a good friend, Nate.”

“I’m not kissing you, Hamilton.”

Alexander snorted. He wouldn’t say it, but Nathaniel Pendleton had never been an option. He was too skinny. Alexander liked broad shoulders in men. Not that he’d ever dated any men in high school, so his type wasn’t the most important detail. Only four days before the big day, he didn’t have the luxury to be picky. But he would be staying with his dad, and the man was well aware of his type. He had to at least believe he was bringing a guy he liked, even if he wouldn’t buy that he was getting married—which he totally intended saying to the people he hadn’t seen in a decade and probably wouldn’t see again in at least that long.

And so, the quest for the perfect partner-in-crime/fake-partner-in-life began.

He worked as a financial examiner in a big company—had ever since he finished grad school three years ago—and had many coworkers and many friends. Sure, he had many enemies as well, and had slept with people who fitted any of those three categories, but he was sure there had to be someone willing to get out for one weekend and pretend to be in a relationship with him.

Okay, maybe asking people he had broken up with after having sex a few times because he didn’t want anything serious was not a good idea. Maybe he should’ve thought of that before he did, and got a stapler thrown at his face. But he wouldn’t give up. There had to be someone willing to do it. He wasn’t asking that much, was he? It sounded fun. If someone—preferably hot—asked him to do it for them, he totally would. And yet after asking around for what felt like hours, he still couldn’t get someone to do it. Sure, he had to go to work eventually, but by the time his lunch break approached, he resumed his efforts, this time on another floor—another department altogether. He didn’t have more success there. But he had no intention of giving up. He still felt kind of crappy. He wasn’t used to being rejected a dozen times in a row, so once he was done with the people he knew in that floor and heard the distinct sound of the elevator doors opening, he decided it was time to take a break, at least if he made it in time before the doors closed. He was too emotionally drained to hurry, but he put on his best miserable face in hope whoever was inside would take pity of him. He hadn’t expected it to work, so when a kind soul held the elevator open for him, Alexander almost cried. He was exhausted, and it was only a quarter past one in the afternoon.

The kind soul stared at him with unmasked curiosity. “You okay, Hamilton?”

It was Aaron Burr, from HR. They never had been friends, but he was always friendly—although Alexander suspected he was friendly to everybody—and kind of a pushover. They had even flirted a little, back when they first met, but nothing ever happened. It was almost too perfect.

“Yeah, I’m okay. I mean, kind of. Are you doing anything this weekend?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“I have a thing this weekend. And I really don’t want to go alone. But I’ve been asking around and it turns out I have a lot more enemies than friends in this place, I think.”

Aaron arched his eyebrows just as the elevator stopped on his floor. He took one step towards the exit, but Alexander blocked his way and pressed the button to close the doors. “Hamilton…”

“Aren’t you _at least_ going to ask what the thing is?”

“A funeral?”

“No, it’s worse. My high school reunion, for the ten years of our graduation. I can’t go alone! They’re going to think I’ve been single since high school!”

“I really doubt anyone’s going to think that, Hamilton. Now, I really need to get to work—”

“Burr, please, I’m begging you. I’ll get on my knees if you want.” His expression got cocky for a moment. “I’ll do a lot more than beg on my knees if you want.”

They reached the first floor, even though Alexander wasn’t sure who had pressed the button for it. Aaron passed one arm around Alexander’s elbow and led him outside. “This is ridiculous, and you’re impossible. I don’t need the entire company listening to your nonsense.”

Alexander wouldn’t argue. He was in his lunch break, and was actually hungry, so he let himself be led out to the street. “Please, Burr. It’s not even that far. I’m from Albany. I’ll pay for the gas and the food and even if you want a new suit I can get it for you.”

Aaron had thought Hamilton was Puerto Rican. “I don’t want a new suit, Hamilton,” though he could admit to himself that Alexander dressed particularly well, and he wouldn’t mind going shopping with the guy. “You said it was this weekend?”

Alexander hummed affirmatively. “There’s a fancy dinner on Friday night and a picnic on Saturday morning. Well, Saturday is actually all-day long.”

“In Albany?”

“Yes. But my dad lives super close, so uh, we could stay with him and his husband. I mean, I’m totally going to tell them that we’re nothing serious, okay? I’ll tell them about the lie, or at least, if you wouldn’t mind telling everyone from my class that we’re getting married, I’ll tell my dad that we’re dating so he won’t think so badly of me. And some friends we’ll be staying there too, but to them I’ll tell the whole truth.”

Aaron released an exasperated sigh and rubbed his forehead with the back of his hand. He should’ve known the whole thing would be ridiculous and over the top, but he still wasn’t expecting to hear anything about _marriage_. “This is nuts. I can’t believe I’m actually considering it.”

“I’d owe you so much if you do this for me, Burr, please!”

“This is ridiculous. Why do you care so much?”

Alexander shrugged. “I just do.”

Aaron didn’t know the man well enough to say if he was usually a good liar or not, but he could tell it was important for him. And well, he really didn’t have other plans for the weekend. How difficult could it be? Worst case scenario, people found out, but then only Alexander would be ridiculed. “And are you not going to get me a ring?”

Alexander’s face broke into a huge grin right before he hugged him. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! You’re the best, Burr!” He kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll get you something pretty. We can leave late on Friday, about six or six thirty. Dinner is at nine.”

“Alexander…”

“Are you on your lunch break? I’ll buy you lunch right now. Seriously man, you’re a life savior.”

He managed to say no to the lunch, even though Hamilton’s expressions were hard to fight against, and only once he was back inside the building, far away from the man and his expressive eyes, he sighed and evaluated what he’d gotten into.

Oh, he was an idiot, wasn’t he?

When he first met the guy three years ago, he had thought he was ridiculously handsome and flirted back every time they met, but they just didn’t meet that often. Their schedules were too different, and Alexander worked on a fifteenth floor whereas he worked on the fourth. They just never bumped into each other casually, and Aaron was simply bad at texting. He was, he knew it. A lot of people had told him. But at the end, he’d been glad nothing happened between them, after he heard all the things people said about him. Alexander Hamilton was a player, and though morally Aaron didn’t have anything against those, he still had no intention of being played himself.

When he made it back to his office, still angry with himself for walking right into a situation of great risk, he noticed Theo was waiting for him, sitting on top of his desk, facing the front door.

He gulped. “What?”

“What do you mean what? People are talking. They saw you talking to Hamilton, and there are rumors about what Hamilton was asking around. You told him no, right? Some people are saying you might have said yes.”

Oh, shit. He swallowed and sat down on his desk.

She just turned where she was sitting. Now she was towering over him. “Aaron. You didn’t say yes. You didn’t.”

He sighed. “I… well…”

“Aaron!”

“What are people saying? It’s not a big deal, he just—”

“He wanted a date for his high school reunion and wants to say that he’s in a serious relationship.”

Well, at least they weren’t talking about marriage. He tried to smile, but Theodosia was too intimidating, and he was sure he couldn’t. “Basically, yes. What’s so terrible about that? It’ll be just a bunch of strangers thinking we’re together. I don’t mind. He’s only going to lie to the people he doesn’t like and doesn’t see often. He’s telling the truth to his friends.”

Theodosia crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. “Call him.”

“What?”

“Call him and tell him to come here right now.”

“What do you want to say to him?”

“Just do it, Aaron, I’m not playing.”

He took a deep breath and dialed his phone. It took him a minute to find Hamilton’s number, and his friend’s icy glare wasn’t helping, but he managed, and the man didn’t seem to notice anything weird in his voice when he asked him to come by as soon as he could to discuss some more. He wished he hadn’t noticed the man was working through a bite of something, because it made him weirdly happy how he said he would go right away even when he was clearly interrupting his meal. He didn’t say this to Theodosia though. She wasn’t easily moved by anything, and it wouldn’t do him any good if she thought he was more interested than what he let on. He wasn’t.

Anyone would’ve been charmed by the way Hamilton jogged into his office with a confident grin, and by how easily this one disappeared after he saw Aaron wasn’t alone.

“Hey—oh,” he paled. “Mrs. Prevost. Hello.”

Theodosia Prevost had a reputation, and since she worked on IT, she was known in every floor.

“People are talking, Hamilton,” said she, without bothering with a greeting.

“What?”

“People are talking. And I don’t like what they’re saying, so this is what you’re going to do: if anybody asks you about your high school reunion and your ridiculous plan, you’ll tell them you gave up, and you’re simply taking a date, with no elaborate lies, because you can be normal.”

“But—”

“Believe me, that’s better for you. People like to talk about scams like this. People have Facebook. You never know. In these four days, your entire class could find out about your ridiculous idea without you knowing. If you make it boring, they probably won’t talk about it, not before the thing at least.”

Alexander licked his lips and narrowed his eyes. “That makes a lot of sense, actually. Okay, so in the office I say I give up and I’m simply taking a date,” he nodded. “Sure. I can do that.”

Aaron massaged his temples. “How many versions of this story are we telling? I’m afraid I might get them all mixed up.”

“From now till Friday you’re just my date,” he winked, “and there’s no plan at all.”

“That can’t be your first date though,” pointed Theodosia. “It would be the worst first date in the history of first dates.”

Aaron expected Hamilton to argue, like he seemed to do all the time, so he was surprised when instead the man just nodded.

“Okay. Then let’s have another one first. Tonight. Do you like Indian food?”

“What?”

“That’s okay, we can go somewhere you like. I’ll call you when I’m done. You finish at six, right?”

Aaron nodded, and then watched him leave (after Hamilton gave him a ridiculous wink) as he tried to fully grasp what had just happened. In the meantime, Theodosia stood up and stretched her arms over her head. She seemed relaxed, as if she hadn’t just turned Aaron’s life upside down with her unasked—unwanted—input. He liked to let things run their natural curse. Usually, not doing anything meant he wouldn’t get affected by things he couldn’t have prevented even if he’d tried. But then again, since he was going to the thing with Hamilton, he wasn’t exactly staying out of it. He might thank her later. Might. He hadn’t figured out how he felt about going out on a date with Hamilton. And even hours later, as he was finally sitting across from the guy on a nearby Italian restaurant, he had no idea how he felt about it. He wasn’t mad; Hamilton’s charming smile tended to make it hard for others to stay mad at him. And he wasn’t entirely uncomfortable either; conversation was fluent and random enough that he didn’t find enough time to feel anything outside of whatever the current topic made him feel. The atmosphere of the place was perhaps exaggeratedly romantic, leaving no place for doubts as to what they were supposed to be on, but they weren’t friends. They never had eaten together before, and he could pretend that was just what eating with Hamilton should be like, which perhaps wasn’t entirely ridiculous, considering the guy’s reputation.

Still, he had to go and at least try to turn things awkward, because that was just who Aaron was.

“I’m sorry about Theo,” he commented out of nowhere, right after the waiter had brought their food. “She can be a little…”

Hamilton waved a hand in quick dismissal and clicked his tongue. “Don’t sweat it. And she was honestly kind of right.” He grabbed a fork and started tangling noodles in it. “It could’ve been really bad if everyone knew and kept talking about it.”

Aaron hummed, because he knew that. Theo was always right, and people _loved_ that kind of gossip. They would’ve been all over the internet soon enough if they didn’t do this.

“But we should use this opportunity to plan it all. What kind of thing do people ask to engaged couples?”

If only because Hamilton seemed to have an even worse record with relationships, Aaron didn’t laugh out loud at being asked that. At least he’d seen one or two romcoms, but they weren’t his favorite genre either. He shrugged one shoulder helplessly and started chopping his Fettuccini. “I guess… stuff about the proposal? Who did it? How?”

“That’s easy, I did it. And I…” he licked his lips and just stared at Aaron for a moment, “do you like Broadway shows?”

“Sure. On a stage. Not in real life, so no singing, please.”

Hamilton snorted. “No, no, just… we could’ve gone see a play, maybe the matinee on a Sunday, so that on our way back home I would’ve told you to walk a little before lunch so that I could propose on the park.”

That sounded straight out of a cheesy movie, which Aaron definitely did not love. “Surely nothing big?” he used a napkin to stall. “I mean, public declarations like that are just… they add so much pressure, you know?”

“Whoever said it would be public? No,” he shook his head, “I wouldn’t need nor want people cheering us on and insisting on you to say yes. That’s just what people do when they’re afraid they’ll be rejected.”

Aaron smirked. “And you weren’t?”

“You’ll never know.”

“But if it’s in the park, how do you expect it to not be public?”

Hamilton pursed his lips. There was a small piece of parsley on his cheek, but it came off when he rubbed his chin, lost in thought. “We’d be walking, right? Probably discussing whatever we just watched, commenting our favorite parts, and once we reach a part where we’re mostly alone, I don’t stop walking but I start talking very low, so only you could hear, even if there’s no one else around. And I find a way to turn the conversation towards what I want, which is, the direction my life is going. A good direction. One which you complement. So that’s why, that’s why I think we could make it work. I think we could work together, for the rest of our lives, together,” he swallowed. “Only if you want, of course,” he grinned. “And then, since you’d probably be speechless, like now, I’d look around, see if there’s no one around, and sure, stop walking for once. I’d hold one of your hands and take a small black box out of my pocket. It probably wouldn’t be easy to open it with one hand, but I’d manage. Forgive me for not getting down on one knee, but we’re in public, and there’s dirt on the ground and I’m probably wearing a very expensive suit.”

Aaron knew it was his turn to say something, but he was effectively speechless. He nodded.

“So I’d slip the ring on your finger and, well, that’s it. We kiss. We hug. I don’t know. We’d have a full day to celebrate our engagement,” he winked.

“That sounds great, Alexander.” He cleared his throat and raised his glass.

Alexander took the hint right away and clashed their glasses together. “Great. We have that covered now.” In one sip, he downed his glass of wine, but he figured he could be excused. He had virtually proposed, after all, and he was inexplicably nervous. The fact that Burr had called him by his first name after it also made him feel weird. But not in a bad way. He had a good feeling about it all. And that good feeling lasted for most of the week. Spontaneously stopping by Burr’s floor to simply say hi and volunteering to drop whatever papers were needed in HR, he felt like they could make it work. He was courting someone, and for the first time he wasn’t doing it under twenty-four hours knowing he’d stop as soon as they slept together a few times. And their coworkers looked at them with suspicion, but no one was asking about his high school reunion, so he figured they were doing alright. People were buying it. And why wouldn’t they? Burr did the part surprisingly well, and his good looks and sense of humor made flirting ridiculously easy. He was still exaggeratedly dry when texting, but in person they were doing alright.

Then of course Friday came, and all his good feelings flew out the window while he made his bags. Visiting his hometown was stressful enough, but doing it _knowing_ that he would be spending hours with people like Jefferson or Seabury…

And they had to stop by his house first. He wasn’t really the ‘meet the parents’ kind of guy, and he wasn’t really used to introducing his partners to his father and stepdad. He didn’t have any experience, which made faking it even harder. But he figured at least they had nothing to compare it either, aside from his high school girlfriend, and no one could be expecting him to behave the way he did in high school, right? He was an adult now. Sort of. He had his own apartment, a job, and paid his own bills. And that was all there was to being an adult, right?

Adults also were good at finding excuses and accommodating situations to their convenience, weren’t they? And Alexander had always succeeded at that. Hell, he aced it. And he certainly aced it on Friday.

“Hello!” he yelled as soon as his father opened the door with a smile. “We’re running a little late, so we’ll be just dropping our stuff and leaving…” Alexander didn’t plan to stop at all. He was carrying everything upstairs without making eye contact.

Hercules, his stepdad, cut his way and stared down at him with an arched eyebrow and arms folded on top of his chest, judging him not quite silently. “You’re unbelievable sometimes, Alex.”

“Well, he is late,” said his father. “I mean, the boys already left.”

Hercules shook his head. He looked like a guy that was used to his partner justifying everything his son did.

“Well, in my defense, they had flights to take, and because of that, they made sure to be early. We just took my car. I never thought there would be this much traffic!”

Aaron bit his tongue and refrained from complimenting Alexander’s talent for lying. He never thought the man could be that good at coming up with excuses. But maybe he had planned them in advance. Just like he had planned to come late.

His father cleared his throat. “That’s okay. But at least introduce us before you go, Alexander. Hello, I’m Jim, and this is my husband Hercules. It’s so nice to meet you.”

“Hello, I’m Aaron.” Aaron gave them his best polite smile, to compensate for his fake-boyfriend’s terrible manners.

“Okay, you’ve met. Can we go now?”

Aaron wondered how pissed Alexander would be if he said he was feeling sick or tired and decided to stay. They still had the picnic the next day. Alexander could go on his own for the dinner. But that was not the deal, so he didn’t. He still gave him a chastised look, and then a sheepish smile to the couple that seemed more than used to Alexander’s attitude. He figured he probably had been worse as a teenager and was glad they hadn’t met sooner. He took his time making it upstairs, but didn’t have a problem finding Alexander, who had dropped his bag on top of the bed and was aggressively texting someone with the door ajar.

Aaron didn’t care about the texting. He appreciated the moment it gave him to look around. A person’s bedroom said a lot about them, but a person’s childhood bedroom was even more special. It allowed other people to take a look at what they valued the most during years many people buried once they were left behind. Because some people changed drastically, and everyone went through phases they were honestly embarrassed or regretted deeply, but beyond the interests and fashion, a person’s childhood bedroom was a storage of memories. The things they and their parents kept there, the books, the color of the walls, the stuff they once kept on their nightstand or their desk, it all spoke volumes of what was inside someone’s mind. And Aaron had a feeling the only reason the place was in order was because Alexander didn’t live there anymore; the way the books were displayed on his bookshelf—by author and then theme, mindless of the different sizes or colors—was telling enough. He wondered how many others had been there. He realized probably nobody else from the office had ever stepped inside, and he felt lucky.

Alexander sighed after a second, exasperated, and said: “Okay, we need to hurry now, or we won’t even make it to the dessert. There’s traffic here too.”

“This was your childhood bedroom?”

“It was my bedroom. But I only came to live here when I was twelve, so not childhood, no. My childhood room was in Puerto Rico, but I haven’t been there since my mom died.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Alexander had a weird look on his face. “We probably should waste a couple of minutes here. They should think we’re talking or making out.”

Aaron snorted, and his chest shook with contained laughter. “You are ridiculous.” Something on top of the desk caught his eye, and he couldn’t help to grab it. “What in hell…?”

“Will you believe me if I said I went through a goth phase?”

Aaron arched one eyebrow, but if he was honest, he didn’t find another explanation for the decorative skull in real size.

Alexander sighed. “I just really liked Halloween, pirates, and Shakespeare. Can you blame me for seeing it and impulsively buying it? I even named him and everything. His name is George. Say hi to George.”

“Hi George,” muttered Aaron, weakly.

Alexander chuckled and grabbed it out of his hands, moving its mouth as he said with a ridiculously low voice: “Hello, sir. Please refrain from grabbing whatever you find amusing in the future. My master doesn’t like it.”

Aaron gulped and nodded jerkily.

“I almost brought it with me to college, but my stepdad strongly suggested against it. I realize now that he was right. My college roommate, Robert, would’ve eaten me alive if he saw it. I like the guy, but he’s kind of a jerk.”

“If my college roommate had one of these I probably would’ve stayed far away from them, to be honest.” And maybe he should’ve stayed far away from Alexander as well, but it was too late now. He was trapped. He could tell because Alexander’s playful smile did things to him that it had no right to.

He was fucked, wasn’t he?

Well, he could at least now embrace the fact that he was totally gone for his coworker. He probably had been ever since that first date, or maybe even earlier. Or maybe it had been the spontaneous visits during the week, the couple of lunch breaks they’d shared or how he never ever made a malicious comment on how weird Aaron was for chopping his pasta. He didn’t know when it had happened, but he liked Alexander, he liked him a lot. So he followed him to the fancy dinner because that was the whole reason for him to be there, and because maybe if he played his part well enough, Alexander would consider him again for that sort of thing. He was a sensible guy. He knew he wouldn’t be able to maintain a friendship with him. Their paths didn’t cross often at work, and he wasn’t good at texting, but maybe if he was useful, Alexander wouldn’t forget about him. That was certainly a little bit better than just being remembered as a good laid.

The first thing Alexander did after they arrived was immediately finding two guys that were near the door and embracing them tightly. All three looked overly excited, and Aaron felt extremely out of place, but he kept a smile on his face.

Eventually, Alexander turned to make some introductions. “These are the friends who will be staying at my house this weekend,” he informed Aaron. “Gilbert de Lafayette here, this awesome guy, I love him, lives in San Francisco and John Laurens whom I also love lives now in South Carolina. I know, right? People don’t move from New York to South Carolina, it’s usually the other way around, but this one did.”

John Laurens rolled his eyes and seemed to be about to defend himself, probably in the form of an insult.

Aaron was not in the mood to hear any banter when they were just arriving, so he intervened. “A good friend of mine from high school moved there, actually. But then again, he was from New Jersey. And people _do_ leave New Jersey.”

Alexander’s friends seemed to be surprised by his input, but they laughed cheerfully, and conversation went on amicably, mostly without him. And that was okay. Aaron was not in fact an important part of Alexander’s life, and he clearly didn’t see his old friends often enough. Still, it was a little rude when a woman joined them and if she hadn’t asked, Alexander wouldn’t have mentioned him at all. After a couple of minutes in which he was thoroughly ignored by everyone in his circle, he spotted the bar. He figured he wouldn’t be missed, and he could use some alcohol.

“I’ll go get us a drink,” said he.

“Thanks babe,” replied Alexander distractedly, barely interrupting his conversation with the woman.

Aaron wouldn’t be back for a while though. He wanted a drink for himself, and he had no idea what Alexander would prefer. But Alexander seemed to know this, so he didn’t worry.

In fact, not long after Aaron disappeared, the woman recognized someone at the other side of the ballroom and quickly said goodbye to them to go catch up with whoever it was she used to be closer to, which suited Alexander just fine, because it left him alone with Laurens and Lafayette at one side of the room, apart from most people who could interrupt them or eavesdroppers.

They used to be the best friends, and honestly, Alexander still considered them that. When he didn’t know what to do, he messaged them. When something good happened, he messaged them. When something bad happened, he told them too. Really, that hadn’t changed. They just didn’t see each other as often. They didn’t live close enough. But they tried to meet for each other’s birthdays and stuff. They were still friends. The best of friends.

So, of course, they saw right through him right away.

“What are you doing man?” asked Lafayette, as soon they were alone.

Laurens was shaking his head with a mean grin. “He just wants to beat Jefferson, but the guy is married with children, and you’re not borrowing my daughter for your stupid pissing contest, Ham.”

Alexander rolled his eyes. “I was not going to ask that of you, asshole.” He got his hands in his pockets and looked around. “Is it too obvious that it’s a lie?”

“No. For a minute there I worried you just hadn’t told us, but I knew it couldn’t be.”

“I knew you would’ve called us the morning after you hit that,” commented Lafayette, eyes travelling to the bar quickly where Aaron was now talking to someone, “so there was no way you were already planning to marry the guy.”

“Yeah, besides you better make me your best man, man,” added Laurens, patting him on the back. With the smile his best friend gave him in return, he didn’t have a doubt that would happen, even if it was three decades later. That was what was great about some friendships. It doesn’t matter how long it passes, how many stories they miss, the minute they get together to talk about it, it’s like no time had passed at all. Laurens was happy. He was happy to be there, with his old friends, and he had a full weekend to enjoy it. It was actually a little irritating that Alexander had to go and convince a stranger to be there as well. “Where did you find this guy anyway?”

“Yeah, how did you get him to do this?”

Alexander shrugged. “I’ll tell you all about it later tonight, at my dad’s.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

“Guys!” another girl joined them, this one far more welcome than the last one. “I haven’t seen you in forever! How are you doing?”

“Eliza!”

All three of them hugged her in turns, though she wasn’t as effusive with Alexander. Considering they saw enough of each other since they both lived in New York City, it wasn’t weird. That, and the fact that a lot of eyes were on them, since their relationship had been something of a soap opera for most of the people in the room, explained her caution.

“It’s been too long,” she said, “I don’t think I’ve seen you two in years. I know Gilbert is happy in San Francisco, you’re always on my Instagram, but I don’t think I’ve seen even a picture of you on Facebook as of lately, John!”

Laurens smiled sheepishly and shrugged one shoulder. He wasn’t very active on social media, that was true. He was doing pretty good, according to himself. But he didn’t think his classmates would agree. He didn’t care though. Sure, he was still technically in school, but he was doing what he loved. He was already working in a hospital, helping people. He couldn’t care less what people like Jefferson thought of him. Not anymore. He had grown. But he wouldn’t judge Alexander for being childish. That was one of his charms, if he was honest.

“But why South Carolina?” asked Eliza.

“Martha moved there for college. I think an uncle of her works there. I wanted to be closer to Fanny, so I had to follow her.”

Her expression turned sympathetic. The whole scandal after prom hadn’t been exactly a secret. “Is she more flexible with visits now, or is she still a bitch?”

Laurens sighed. “Well…” he scratched the back of his head, “sometimes, she does shitty stuff like telling me Fanny fell asleep and won’t see me when it’s important dates that I’ve been working, like for her birthday and that sort of thing, but most of the time, Fanny is the one that wants to see me, so she can’t stop it.”

“And why medicine?” asked another asshole who was only then chiming in, Samuel Seabury.

“I always liked it, and I got very into it while I was in the army.” Two years of his life he was never going to get back, that changed his perspective completely. He went there running from himself, and he came back decided to live his life like he wanted to. “The doctors there, man…” he shook his head, “those are the real heroes.”

Seabury looked like he had bit a lemon, which was quite a satisfying view, according to Alexander.

And dinner went only up after that. The food was good, even if it was too little, and he ended up talking to his best friends and Aaron only. There was a moment in which he was forced to listen to Jefferson talk about how he’d established his own architecture firm in Virginia and how he was doing amazing, but at least after that no one else felt like bragging and conversation broke into several smaller groups. The night would be over soon enough. They would have all Saturday too, after all.

“Well, tonight could’ve been worse,” commented Lafayette once they parked outside the house they spent so many weekends in as teenagers.

Laurens snorted. “I liked it. Did you see Seabury’s face when he asked me why I went to med school?”

Alexander laughed. “Yeah, it was hilarious!”

“What was hilarious?” asked Jim, who was standing by the foot of the stairs with his pajamas and a dressing gown on. “How was tonight? Fun?”

“Yeah, it was alright,” said Laurens, grinning brightly. “Thanks for letting us stay, uncle Jim.” He wasn’t really his uncle, but as a closeted fourteen-year-old, he hadn’t known how else to call the gay adult that insisted on not to be called ‘sir’.

“Please, don’t thank me. You two are always welcome here, you know that. Why else do you think we have a guestroom with two beds?”

Hercules came downstairs then, and the couple got coffee while the three friends poured themselves some more alcohol. They wanted to hear all about the people they never met but spent four years hearing about. Which ones had gotten hotter or uglier? Which ones were successful? Which ones had the saddest lives? It was pretty fun to gossip about people they really couldn’t care less but had known as kids.

Aaron made himself a tea.

It was late though, so Jim and Hercules went back to bed about an hour later. Alexander and his friends, however, had no intention of stopping yet. They had many things to talk about, many jokes and stories they couldn’t share with the couple, and simply not enough time to do it all. As long as they could keep their eyes open, they would keep talking.

“You can stay, Burr, that’s okay,” said Alexander when Aaron stood up to go.

Aaron shook his head. “You have a lot to catch up, and whereas I find your conversation quite amusing, I think you could use some time alone. I’ll be with you all day tomorrow anyway.”

“Thanks,” muttered Alexander, with a tender smile.

“Good night.”

“Good night!” answered the three friends in choir.

“He’s a cool guy,” said Lafayette once he’d disappeared. “You could marry him for real.”

Alexander snorted. He didn’t have anything against marriage, if he was honest. He just didn’t think he’d ever met anyone he wanted to do it with.

“But what’s the deal? The people at school think you’re engaged, your dad thinks you’re together, and in reality you are…?”

Alexander sighed heavily and poured himself more whiskey. “The story I’m telling in school is that we’ve been together for two years and engaged for a month. My dad thinks we’ve been together for six months, and that Aaron is rolling with it because, well, if he’s dating me then of course he would roll with something like this. And in reality…” he bit his bottom lip and played with the ice in his glass, “we’re… nothing.” And that without mentioning that in the office they were pretending to date as well, but no one needed to know that. It would be over by Monday too anyway, wouldn’t it?

“And he agreed to this? Woah, he really is a cool guy. How?”

Alexander shrugged one shoulder. If he had to be honest, he didn’t have the least idea. Aaron Burr had always been a mystery to him. “We work together, but I don’t know. We’ve never been friends.”

They worked in different departments, different floors, and apparently had very different schedules because they hardly ever met, not even on the elevator. Alexander, however, had tried to reach out once, when he first met him during his first week in the company about three years ago, but it just didn’t work. Aaron’s texts were too dry, always made Alexander feel like he was bothering him, so he stopped trying after a couple of days.

It wasn’t until he opened the door to his bedroom about four hours later that he realized they never discussed sleeping arrangements. He had a twin bed, and he was not sleeping on the floor, but he couldn’t ask that of Aaron either, and there was no way he was letting his father and stepdad find out about his ridiculous—because he could admit it was ridiculous even if he still thought it necessary—plan. They had to stay in the same room. He figured he could at least get changed before he woke the guy that was already fast asleep, and once he was ready for bed, he cleared his throat to see if that would do the trick, because he hadn’t even stirred after he closed the door rather loudly. When that didn’t work either, he proceeded to touch his shoulder, but when that didn’t work, he shook him rather brusquely.

After Burr woke, rightfully alarmed, Alexander felt a little guilty, but he was too drunk and tired to apologize. “Hey,” he said instead, without a drop of regret in his voice, “you don’t mind we share the bed, right? Don’t make me sleep on the floor, Burr.”

Aaron was still groggily trying to understand where he was and what was going on, but he made room for his coworker without thinking. “Sure,” he slurred, because there could be a million reasons for that to be a bad idea, but he was not going to make Hamilton sleep on the floor. They were adults. They could share a bed. A twin bed. Two adults inside a twin bed in a corner of the room, which meant they either cuddled or he ended up glued to a cold wall while Alexander grabbed all the blankets for himself.

Thus, cuddling it was. He waited a moment until he thought the other man’s breath was regular enough that he had to be sleeping and turned, getting back some of the blankets that had been so cruelly stolen from him, then folded his arms to make himself as tiny as possible, and glued himself to Hamilton’s back. It was uncomfortable, but at least when he opened his eyes there was a dark shirt and hair in front of him instead of a plastic skull staring back at him with those exposed teeth forming a weird smile. It took a while, but eventually he fell asleep again, only to wake up in what felt like a moment later but were actually three hours, with the sun hitting him violently through the orange curtains—whoever had orange curtains? They were the worst in the morning! —and his cheek pressed against a pillow rather firm, as opposed to the fluffy one he’d fallen asleep on. And not only it was firm, it was also… moving?

He jumped back only to hit his head with the wall, and his cussing woke the other man up.

“What the fuck?” mumbled Alexander, frowning. He rubbed his face with a hand and growled. “What time is it?”

“I don’t know. Sorry to wake you.”

“Yeah, yeah… shit, it’s late! I need to take a shower!”

“What?” he checked the time and frowned. “I thought we didn’t have to be there until noon?”

“They take forever to get ready, _and_ we’ll have to have breakfast downstairs with everyone and talk and that will take forever as well,” explained Alexander. “Besides, I kind of need one.” If he had to be honest, he was only glad Aaron had finally woken up and jumped away like that, so they didn’t need to discuss the accidental cuddling, because that was probably what had happened. And it was normal. He knew he was a cuddler, which was the main reason he never stayed around too long after sex. But when he’d open his eyes at some point a little earlier because his head was killing him, he hadn’t known how to get out of there. Sure, Aaron’s head and arm had been on top of him, but he had been the one with his arms around the other, hugging him rather tightly. He hadn’t known what to do and ended up falling asleep again. He hadn’t moved his arms either. What if that woke the other up? It had been early still.

He took a fast shower and then wasted some time shaving and trimming his beard, because Aaron looked gorgeous and he wanted to look the part. Sure, he wanted people to be jealous of him, but he didn’t want them to think he was excessively lucky or that Aaron had bad taste. By the time he made it downstairs, everyone else was already having breakfast, and he felt just a tiny bit bad that he had left Aaron alone with them.

He didn’t look upset though, but Aaron never looked upset. Still, he gave him a charming smile when he saw him appear and filled a mug with coffee. “No sugar and no cream, right?” he asked.

Alexander hummed affirmatively, a little surprised and a little smug. He didn’t think it was hard to remember, but it was a nice detail for their credibility, and the fact that he was pouring it for him made him feel perhaps ridiculously proud, but they couldn’t get it, they couldn’t understand how big it was that that was _Aaron Burr_ , the gorgeous guy from HR that worked on a fourth floor and yet managed to have a nice view of the Hudson river from his office, who knew everyone and was always nice but was best friends with one of the most terrifying people in the entire company, and he was making Alexander coffee in his father’s kitchen. It was ridiculous.

“We’re less than three hours away. Can we expect you to visit sooner, or do we wait for the next high school reunion?” asked Hercules, who always gave him shit about not visiting often enough.

Alexander rolled his eyes. They never visited him either. Shouldn’t the thing be reciprocal? He was busy, his father was retired. Who was being insensitive there?

“So Aaron, tell us about your job,” said Lafayette, expertly and yet not subtly changing the subject.

Aaron used a napkin to stall a little. “Well, I work at Human Resources. Most of the time I just need to come up with satisfaction surveys and design the sustainability report.”

“Oh, so the both of you have to like, tell the world that your company is doing okay, right?” pointed Laurens.

Aaron and Alexander shared a look and shrugged. “I guess.” It was strangely accurate, but most people wouldn’t usually find a connection between the department of Finance and HR so fast and naturally. It was nice to hear it. Like maybe their relationship could be believable. Like maybe they weren’t insanely incompatible.

Lafayette ruined their moment though, as he groaned and claimed: “Laurens, your phone is going to kill me. Please, answer.”

Laurens frowned and reached for it. He hadn’t even heard it, but when he noticed who was calling, his face lightened up. “Hello sweetheart, how’d you sleep?”

“ _Fine,_ ” answered a young girl. “ _And you?_ ”

“Great. But last night was kind of boring. I kind of wish I could go home. But my flight leaves tomorrow morning. What did your mom say at the end? Will you be able to pick me up?”

“ _Yes!_ ”

“That’s great! Do you want to say hi to my friends?”

She nodded a little nervous.

“Hey Fanny, how are you? You’re huge!”

“ _Hi uncle Alex, hi uncle Gil. I’m fine. Finally on vacation._ ”

“That’s great!”

The phone call, unsurprisingly, extended way too long, and by the time they hung up, they were already late. But it was worth it, because they never saw the little girl, and she looked so much like Laurens it made them all feel a little warm inside. Alexander never thought much about forming a family and having children, but whenever he saw his best friend interacting with his daughter, he had to admit he’d rather like it. And maybe he would work too much, maybe he would be too demanding, but he’d had pretty good examples while growing up, and he thought he could do alright. He knew that anyone with parents—and stepparents—like his was lucky.

“Are you guys ready? We’re going to be late,” said Lafayette.

“Relax, it’ll be long. You’ll be glad to be late, so you don’t have to stay as much as everyone else. Hell, I bet you most people will be late for that exact reason,” pointed Laurens.

“It’s a picnic,” replied Alexander. “How long can it last?”

Well, apparently, a very long time.

At first it was fun. The weather was nice, and the food was pretty good, and everyone was chatty and in a good mood, happy to see each other in a more relaxed setting. But as the hours went by, so did the alcohol, and drunk people can get annoying. More importantly, Alexander himself turned into a jerk when he drank too much, and it was even worse when he’d gotten poor sleep, and even though at some point in his life three hours could’ve been considered _a lot_ , nowadays it wasn’t. Five and half, maybe even six hours was his average now, at least for weekends, so when things started to go south, he only made it worse.

It all started because of a passing comment because of a text he had to answer which involved a professional question around five in the afternoon.

“Oh, so if you’re not there, nothing happens? You must be very important!” said one guy he could barely remember even though he’d been his classmate since middle school.

What would it hurt if they thought he was? He shrugged one shoulder. “I mean, I wouldn’t say that, but…” he was the most capable of his peers, and his boss usually joked about how he would replace him, which was kind of a known fact; he wasn’t even lying! “let’s just say my boss would be in a lot of trouble if I weren’t there.”

It all spiraled down after that.

“And does your fiancé work with you?”

“Yes, they’re from the same company, remember!”

“Oh, are you his boss then?”

Alexander was being asked stuff from half a dozen people at the same time, and his inebriated mind could barely keep up. “What? No.”

“No?”

“No, uh…” he scratched the back of his head, wondering why the faces around him looked so mean, “he works for a different department.”

“Ah… but is he more, or less important than you?”

He frowned. “Does that matter?”

“I mean, that’s kind of a big deal in a relationship, you know? When one holds more power than the other.”

“And who makes more money, too.”

“Oh,” he licked his lips, “well, in that case…” he had no idea how much Aaron made, but his office was prettier than Alexander’s cubicle, “I… do?” He wasn’t hurting anyone. Aaron wasn’t even his real boyfriend, and the expressions around him went from judging to satisfied, which was all he had wanted.

He stayed the center of attention for a long time, and even Jefferson came to listen in. Stupid Jefferson with his stupid architecture firm, who cared? Alexander was going up in a huge transnational company, and he might not have a family yet, but had a gorgeous fiancé and for some reason the fact that he made more money than him was important. He felt like he could talk about his job and his engagement for hours. Of course they all loved when he mentioned how he proposed, and when he made up even more details about their apartment and their dates and their cat—wasn’t Aaron allergic to cats? What was he doing? —they all just kept giving him adoring, admiring looks and he was getting high on it all.

Until Aaron came up from behind him and tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. “Alexander…”

“Not now, Burr,” growled Alexander through gritted teeth. He felt suddenly very embarrassed. It had been okay while Aaron wasn’t around to hear his lies, but there, right next to him, it made him feel ridiculous. Small. Pathetic. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever.” He didn’t even turn to see in which direction Aaron disappeared.

“Woah, Hamilton, that was great. I wish I could do that.”

“What?”

“You really are the boss in your relationship, aren’t you? That’s great.”

“Hey Alex, if you ever feel like spicing up the things in the bedroom…”

Oh, shit. He’d been an ass, hadn’t he? Had he just dismissed Aaron as if he was the boss of him? He ran a hand through his hair anxiously and tried to ignore the faces that were noticing his nervousness.

“Everything okay, Hamilton?”

“Yeah, no, was I too rude? I think I’m a little drunk. Maybe I should go and apologize…”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Hamilton, he was bothering you! You did what you had to do.”

“Yeah, I wish I could send my girlfriend away like that. I’ve tried, but I swear she gets super mad when I do.”

Oh, fuck, he’d been an asshole, definitely an asshole, and he didn’t know how to fix it. The faces around him apparently found him exaggerated, no one was worried, no one seemed to even find him as terrible as he felt. “Fuck,” he exploded. “I’ve been lying, okay! I’m not engaged. And by this point I’m not even sure if Aaron will ever talk to me again. Also, my job’s not that important. But guess what? I don’t care! I’m getting there! It’s been ten years, not thirty, and yet everyone’s acting like we should have it all figured out? It’s ridiculous! Get away, where did Aaron go? Fuck!” He wasn’t sure if everyone moved aside because of his words or because he actually pushed someone, but by the time he was far away from the crowd, there was no sign of Aaron, anywhere. Laurens was only a few feet away, flirting with some guy that had been walking a dog, completely ignorant of his mess, and Lafayette was even further. None of them had seen Aaron. He spotted the cooler with still plenty of beer despite the fact that they were a group of thirty or forty people that had been drinking since noon and was now almost eight in the evening. He sat down heavily next to it, and opened one bottle, hoping that… he wasn’t hoping anything, really, he just needed another drink.

“I thought you were drunk already.”

Alexander huffed. “What do you want? Did you come to laugh at me to my face? You don’t have to, really. I knew you were doing it anyway.”

Jefferson rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. “Actually… I’m not doing that well either, to be honest.” He sat down next to him. “I thought I should let you know.”

“What are you talking about? Your life is amazing.”

“No, it’s not. Martha was diagnosed with cancer last month.”

Alexander gasped. “Shit, I’m sorry. I didn’t—”

“It’s early. The doctors are optimistic, but…” he licked his lips and smiled ruefully, “we were in the middle of getting divorced. We had talked it over, but now?” he shrugged and fished a cigarette and lighter out of his pocket. “How am I supposed to leave her now? I can’t. I still care about her.”

“That’s… that’s very shitty, man. I’m sorry.”

Jefferson sniggered. “Yeah… yeah, it is. And here I was, decided to not let anyone find out because my life couldn’t be anything less than perfect, and you know what? That’s fucking tiring, man. What is this? A bragging contest? We’re twenty-eight. We’re not supposed to be the definition of success. Hardly anyone is at our age. Not in every aspect. It’s not supposed to be that way.”

Alexander sighed. “Damn it. You’re not supposed to be right. You’re supposed to be an asshole.”

Jefferson snorted. “Dude… where did your boyfriend go?”

Alexander bit his bottom lip. “I don’t think he’s my boyfriend anymore, Thomas.”

Thomas rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. The guy is completely gone for you. Just go and apologize.”

“He’s a good actor.”

“No one’s that good of an actor. And he agreed to pretend you were engaged. Who does that? Dumb, crazy people in love. Those do it.”

Oh, Alexander wanted to believe that. He wanted to, but he couldn’t. Besides, he had screwed up pretty badly earlier.

“And you love him too. Just go and apologize. No one is laughing at you, by the way. They all feel like assholes. And they’re right to do so. They were making bets on how long it will take you to actually get married to the guy. The earliest so far is tomorrow.”

Alexander giggled at that. “Well, we’re definitely not getting married tomorrow, I can tell you that.”

“Yeah, I know. That’s why I put my money in a year and a half from now. Do not disappoint me, Hamilton. I may be rich, but I’m not throwing away five hundred bucks just because you can’t get your shit together. Now go.”

Oh, he would go alright. But where? He figured he could think of something while he waited for his Uber to get there. He was in no form of driving. Although it wouldn’t have mattered if he were, since Aaron, who hadn’t been drinking, had taken the car.

Aaron didn’t know why he had agreed to that nonsense. He regretted it enormously, but there was nothing he could do now, and Hamilton was his ride home. He could dump him in a park in the middle of the city, but he wouldn’t take Hamilton’s car all the way to New York City without him. It wasn’t in his nature to be that much of a jerk. So he had to make it back to the Hamilton’s residency, which thankfully wasn’t hard, but since it was late in the afternoon, the couple that had been carelessly talking in the kitchen heard him come in right away.

“Aaron? Is everything alright?” asked Jim, frowning with concern.

Aaron really didn’t want to deal with Alexander’s family right then, but he wasn’t as rude as his fake-boyfriend. He wasn’t rude, period. He had to at least answer. “Yeah,” he sounded like he couldn’t even believe it himself, “I was just tired and left earlier.”

“What did Alexander do?” asked Hercules.

Alexander was an asshole, but Aaron had been the one who agreed knowing he would get his heart broken. He avoided their eyes by fixing his gaze on the floor and rubbed the back of his neck. “He didn’t do anything.” He’d been bragging and lying, but that had been exactly what Aaron had signed up for. He was mortified when he noticed, a second too late, the tears gathering in his eyes, so he was left without other option but to run upstairs and lock himself in Alexander’s room, with his stupid looking bookshelf with books of different sizes and colors and his stupid tiny bed. He took a deep breath and tried to collect himself, but Alexander was having a great time, he probably hadn’t even noticed he was gone. He could cry, right?

But he couldn’t take that risk. He couldn’t be that guy. Sure, Alexander had been rude, but it wasn’t his place to make him look bad in front of his parents. They weren’t actually together. He had humiliated in front of people he would never see again, so why did he care? Why did it hurt so much?

He didn’t cry. He couldn’t cry. But oh, how he wanted to, and surely the couple downstairs could tell, and they were probably furious. Aaron might try to apologize later. Might. But in the meantime, he needed to calm down. He needed to breathe. It was just so problematic that after spending a night cuddling, he could so easily recognize Alexander’s shampoo on the pillow he buried his face in. There, his own heartbeat was loud in his ears, which meant he couldn’t hear the front door opening.

But the couple downstairs could, and they hurried to yell at the guy who entered looking like a wreck. “Alexander…!”

“Where’s Aaron?”

Jim blinked, too shocked to hold his tongue. “Upstairs. You have to—”

“I know,” replied Alexander, climbing two steps at a time.

Jim and Hercules exchanged a surprised look, and they had to fight the urge to follow and hear behind the door.

It was a good thing they didn’t because they would’ve ended up standing next to Alexander, who couldn’t enter the room right away. Aaron was locked inside, and Alexander was so ashamed that it took him a few minutes to gather the right words to even begin his apology.

He knocked on the door very softly, and then waited. Eventually, he heard the click that meant the lock was open. He took a deep breath, hesitating for a moment in case the turmoil inside of him wasn’t just emotions but also the alcohol, and once he was sure he wouldn’t throw up and make it all even worse for everyone involved, he stepped inside.

“Hey.”

Aaron was sitting on his bed in the lotto position while reading something on his phone. He nodded, but he didn’t turn to look at him.

“I wanted to apologize. I was a total jerk today and I… I’m sorry. I don’t have an excuse for it, I…” he ran a hand through his hair, panicking because Aaron wasn’t looking at him.

And maybe Burr could tell, because he put his phone down and finally their eyes met. “The whole point of me coming here was so you could brag. It’s okay, I’m not mad.”

Aaron Burr was a good actor. Alexander had always suspected it, but the past week he had confirmed it. In many of his short visits he’d seen him being all friendly to later confess to him that he couldn’t stand them. He _knew_ he was a great liar.

But right then it was so easy to tell he was faking it. And for what? To make Alexander feel better?

“But you should!” he replied, perhaps a little louder and harsher than he intended. “You should be, I… that wasn’t me. I swear. I couldn’t care less about having more power or making more money or whatever. I know I never should’ve played their game, but I got carried away. I wanted them to think that I had an important job. I never thought they would assume stuff about you for it. It didn’t even cross my mind. And when you tried to tell me, I should’ve listened. I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I was such an asshole. Aaron…” he licked his lips and sat down next to him on the bed, “please, please don’t think that I meant any of the things I said or did today. I’m sorry. You’re the smartest guy I know, and you’re amazing at your job and if I could, I would’ve loved to brag about it, but I didn’t feel like I could, because that’s real, and this isn’t, and I…”

“Alexander,” he held his hands in his; Alexander hadn’t noticed when he stood up. “Of course you could. That was the point. I said yes. I—”

“You said yes to help me out. Maybe we should’ve talked more about it. Maybe I never should’ve asked you to do it.”

“Why not? What do you regret?”

“Hurting you!”

“Why?”

They’d known each other for three years, but they were never friends. They only started talking frequently earlier that week. Sure, Alexander never would’ve treated someone he was actually in a relationship with the way he did, or at least he wanted to think that he wouldn’t have. He hated it as soon as he realized the picture he’d made. And he couldn’t stand to think that Aaron thought Alexander could be like that. But also… “What do you mean why? Aaron, I care about you!”

“I care about you too, Alexander. That’s why I said yes.”

Alexander was finally quiet. They were still holding hands. “Okay,” he muttered, “I’m going to need you to be a little more specific.”

What was there to lose?

“I like you. A lot.”

Alexander kissed him. He kissed him with the intensity of a drowning man coming up for air, and he held on to him with the same force said drowning man would hold on to a boat in the middle of the ocean. “I like you too,” he confessed, pressing their foreheads together. “I like you very, very much. Would you stop being my fake-boyfriend and become my real boyfriend? I feel like that’s the only way to stay in touch with you.”

“I’m sorry I’m so bad at texting.”

“That’s okay, I don’t mind. At least that means I will never worry you might be seducing someone on your phone. But do you forgive me?”

Aaron joined their lips again, shortly. “Yes. But you’re drunk. Go drink some water. Did you at least eat anything today?”

“Yeah! I had like four of those little sandwiches Maria did. And I think I ate a hot dog too, but I’m not sure I finished it…” he gasped, “Laurens, that son of a bitch, he ate half of it! No wonder I’m so hungry…”

Aaron snorted. “Water first, then food. And maybe an aspirin. How much did you drink?”

“A lot,” admitted Alexander. “But in my defense, Jefferson is betting five hundred bucks on me, so he probably drank a lot too.”

“How does that even…? You know what, I don’t mind.”

“Okay, but you need to come with me, or Herc will have my head. He looked at me like he wanted to kill me when I arrived. What did you tell them?”

“Nothing.”

He pursed his lips as he thought, which to Alexander looked adorable, so he kissed him again, because he could. Something playful, innocent, soft and just so right that he had to do it again. And again. And then again once more because he loved it when Aaron smiled into it, and how the hands on his hips pulled him in a little closer each time.

“Alexander, seriously, you smell like beer, it’s ruining the vanilla from your hair.”

Alexander bit Aaron’s bottom lip and gave him another peck. “You like my shampoo? Why, thanks babe, you’re so nice.”

“Water, Hamilton.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he rolled his eyes and took a step back but grabbed Aaron’s hand before he could get away. “Water and then food. I got it.”

Aaron considered protesting, but when he stepped into the kitchen and saw the couple’s faces, he realized Alexander hadn’t been exaggerating and made sure to stand very close just in case.

“Are you okay, you two?”

“Yep,” said Aaron, because he had a feeling they wouldn’t listen to Alexander. “Alexander drank a little too much and became too engrossed with some people he didn’t even like. He was mean. But he apologized.”

“Hey!” he tried to defend himself, but as he tried to remember the names of the faces that had surrounded him, he gave up. His smile turned sheepish as he accepted the glass of water that Aaron handed him. “Thanks. And again, I’m sorry. Also, I told everyone the thing about the engagement was false. But now they’re betting on when we will actually get married. They’re really weird, I’m telling you.”

“What? Who told you that?”

“Jefferson. Can you believe that his wife has cancer?”

“What?”

“But I think it’s a secret. I’m not sure anymore. Anyway, do you have any food, dad? I’m starving.”

Jim rolled his eyes, but he got him something to eat right away. Then Hercules actually grabbed the plate and threatened with throwing it all away if Alexander ever broke Aaron’s heart, because he was the best guy Alexander had ever brought home.

“But I never bring anyone home!”

“Unimportant. He’s perfect. Just promise it, Alexander.”

“Yeah, I do, of course I do. The last thing I want is to hurt Aaron ever again.”

Aaron hadn’t wanted to be remembered simply as a good laid, and for that, he’d considered asking Alexander to go slow, but when the guy said stuff like that, he made it difficult. He still had no intention of having sex with him in a twin bed only a few feet away from Jim and Hercules’s room, but he would definitely invite Alexander to his apartment soon enough. If he remembered properly from Alexander’s ridiculous bragging of that afternoon, he would be delighted when he saw Aaron’s kitchen and living room that almost matched his description completely.

Still, when they went to bed that night, after an evening of being the target of many lewd jokes and winks and other crap from Alexander’s friends, who were the only ones aware of how they weren’t just reconciliating but actually only starting, he couldn’t resist a little kissing. And sure, he encouraged Alexander to sleep without a shirt on, because the weather allowed it and because if he could convince the guy of never putting on a shirt again he might try. But they both agreed that a house with his parents and friends around was not the best place to get naked together for the first time.

On Sunday morning, Alexander awoke again with his arms around someone and said someone using him as a human pillow, but he didn’t freak out, and the idea of waking him up was not scary at all. “Hey,” slurred he, with heavy eyelids and a lazy smile. He roamed his hand up and down Aaron’s arm and squeezed his bicep tenderly. “How’d you sleep?”

Aaron inhaled deeply and yawned, twisting slightly to face Alexander. “Good. Very good.” He stretched like a cat and laid down his face on Alexander’s chest again. “You’re a great pillow.”

Alexander’s grin grew bigger. “Yeah?”

Aaron hummed and lazily started kissing all the skin he could reach, and since Alexander didn’t have a shirt on, it was quite a lot. He whined in a weak complaint when Alexander cupped his face and pulled him up, away from the heat of his skin, but he didn’t really oppose to meet their lips, and was nothing but encouraging when Alexander started kissing his jaw, lazily making his way to Aaron’s earlobe. But right as he was sliding his hand down Aaron’s stomach, there was a knock on the door, and in a moment Lafayette’s head was peeking inside with a smug grin.

“Hey lovebirds, are you going to take us to the airport or what?”

Aaron’s mortified face was adorable, which helped with Alexander’s rage, but didn’t stop him from throwing a pillow at his friend. He knew they were supposed to drive them to the airport on their way back home, which he had planned strategically so he wouldn’t spend more than enough time with his dad and Hercules, though now he kind of regretted it. He knew he didn’t visit often, but he was genuinely busy, and when he had time, he liked to stay at his apartment and be lazy. Maybe now that they knew and liked his boyfriend he could convince them to visit him for a change.

“You guys really should visit more often,” he told his friends before they parted.

Laurens smirked and hugged him tightly. “I’ll try. Fanny likes musicals. If I convince Martha, I’ll probably take her one weekend and I’ll expect you to have a room for us.”

Alexander snorted and cackled, but his admittance was implicit in the way he patted his back. “Just let me know before you take the plane, man.”

“Sure. Now go have fun,” he winked and stole a glance at Aaron who was then talking to Lafayette about a movie which no one else—in the world—had seen. “Try not to screw that. He really likes you. And you like him, too. I can tell.”

“Please get a boyfriend, Laurens, you’re watching too damn movies.”

“I’m serious.”

“I’m serious too!” he grinned and shook his head. “I know. And I’ll do my best, really. You don’t have to tell me I like him. I know I do. I can’t wait to get home.”

Laurens rolled his eyes. “You’re too horny for your own good, and you’re getting older, dude, stop it.”

“I’ll tell you the same when you get yourself a hot boyfriend.”

He had a boyfriend. The thought alone made him giggle, but thinking that it was Aaron made him weak on the knees. He didn’t think he’d had a boyfriend in years. Not after he dated one asshole that said labels were ridiculous and he was free or something like that and he started avoiding them as well, partly because he hadn’t been looking for anything serious, and partly because when things were serious, they turned too messy too fast and too many people got hurt. Sure, he knew he had hurt people by not committing, and maybe that was terrible of him, but he hadn’t much cared. He’d never promised anything so never felt responsible of their sorrow. But with Aaron…

He never wanted to hurt Aaron, and yet, he already had. And he felt like he would spend at least a good season trying to make up for it, even when it looked like Aaron had already forgiven him. He didn’t know if they would last, but he didn’t want it to end in a week either. He certainly didn’t want it to be over by Monday. And who knew, maybe one lucky bastard of his classmates would win that bet eventually, though thinking about marriage still kind of freak him out. His father was doing alright, but his mother hadn’t, so he had kind of mixed feelings on the issue.

But he didn’t have to think about that, he just had to focus on the now. On making Aaron happy, and on being happy himself. He thought they could manage. He had a good feeling about it all.

֍

He and Aaron had been dating for almost a year when he heard from Jefferson again. For a moment, he remembered the stupid bet and imagined it ought to be about that, but then he recalled that Jefferson had mentioned a year and a half, so it couldn’t be that.

“What is it?” asked Aaron, who had been watching him while he silently argued with himself and apparently had found it amusing, if his smile was to be trusted.

Aaron’s smile was hardly ever to be trusted, but little by little, he’d been discovering the few differences there existed. So far, he was able of identifying the ones of authentic happiness, mischievousness, and sarcasm. He was quite proud of it, and Theo agreed it had taken him very little time in comparison to others, herself included. Aaron was just not easy to read, as opposed to Alexander. But he figured with that he would finally surprise him.

“I just got a text from Jefferson. He’s in the city for a meeting and asked if I knew any good places to eat.”

He was right, Aaron was, indeed, surprised. “That’s all, or does he want to talk to you?”

Alexander hummed and went back to the conversation. “I think he wants to talk.” He sighed. “Well, here goes nothing. I’ll see him tonight.”

“Good luck.”

Alexander thought he’d need it, but he only confirmed it once he spotted Jefferson at a bar, already with an empty glass in front of him. With a grimace, he braced himself for whatever was expecting him. He had checked Facebook though, so it couldn’t be a death, because there had been nothing about it, right? Jefferson surely wouldn’t want to talk about it with him of all people if his wife had died, right? He sat down next to him, almost scared.

“Hey, Jeffer—”

“My wife left me.”

Alexander arched his eyebrows. “Your wife, who has cancer, left you?”

Thomas nodded, hummed, and asked for a refill. “I know I wanted the divorce too. I know it. But…” he clicked his tongue as he watched the yellow liquid filling his glass, “it still hurts like a motherfucker and I don’t even know why. She’s leaving me the house.”

“Your wife, who has cancer, is leaving you and the house?”

He hummed. “And our daughter. She’s moving in with her lover. I didn’t even know she had a lover. I mean, I thought Dolley was just a good friend, you know? The nice coworker that was always around. She had dinner with us almost every week. Am I an idiot?”

Alexander decided it was better he didn’t answer that. “Does she even have cancer?”

“Yes, breast cancer. But they removed the tumor already and she should be off her medication in a couple of weeks now. Then she’ll need to get checked constantly, but she should be alright. She’s acting like nothing’s wrong.”

“So she left you.”

“I guess.” He snorted. “How considerate, isn’t she?”

Alexander gave him a sympathetic smile. “Hey, look at the bright side: at least you’re not the asshole who divorced his sick wife.”

Jefferson snorted. “No, I’m just the poor bastard _she_ left. And for another woman. Wasn’t that a usual punchline in the nineties? Am I living in a sitcom?”

Alexander hummed. “They did that in _Rent_ too.”

“Not to the one that dies, right?”

“Nope.”

“Great.”

Alexander sighed. “Hey, you can drown in self-pity, sure, but what’s the point? You wanted to divorce her. Sure, it’s shitty she cheated on you, but you’ll never know if that started after or before you first separated. If it was after, can you blame her? I mean, clearly your relationship had been over.”

“But if she wanted someone else, she could’ve told me. That didn’t mean I would kick her out, but I wouldn’t have been killing myself over being a terrible husband for a year.”

“No, that was shitty of her, yeah.” He cleared his throat. “But man, you’re single again. Go have fun! Meet someone! Get laid!”

“She left me our daughter, remember? She’s basically in her honeymoon while I’m a single parent juggling my work and her extracurriculars. Why does she have so many, anyway? She’s six!”

“Man, I pity you enough already, stop it.”

When one heard stories like those, marriage sounded awful. When one saw the divorce rates, it made marriage look like a waste of time. Hell, even when he thought about half the people he knew, he acknowledged that marriage simply wasn’t for everybody.

The truth was, he had been thinking a lot about marriage lately. About what it meant. About why people did it and then why they stopped trying. Because he knew love was a choice. And to stay married, people had to decide to stay in love. Sometimes they decided not to. Sometimes their lives took them through different paths and the other person’s existence turned into an inconvenience. Sometimes their differences went too deep, sometimes the other person crossed a line and there simply was no coming back. And most of the time, it was impossible to foresee that. Most of the time, at the moment of making that choice, there was no way of telling what the future may bring.

But he always reached the same conclusion: even knowing all that, it was still worth the try, because there was always the chance that they could get it right, and marriage done right… that was the real deal, wasn’t it? Company, good company, companionship, for as long as they could manage.

He stared at the man typing fast in his laptop sitting on the floor of his living room, and he smiled.

“Hey Aaron, what do you think we go watch that new play this Sunday morning?”

**Author's Note:**

> and Alexander planned it all just like he had told Aaron during their first fake-date because he has an amazing memory and it was going great but then it started raining right in the middle of their walk so he had to improvise and they ended up soaking wet but Aaron SAID YES ANYWAY!  
> PD: I have a plastic skull like the one Alexander had and mine is named “Jorge Del Norte”, which is Spanish for “George Of North”. Don’t judge me. It’s staring down at me right now. I had to mention him.


End file.
